52 Teenagers - Manchester's acceptable face of emo

"I DO think we definitely possess elements of emo," sighs Neil, 52 Teenagers' frontman and a dead-ringer for Ricky Kaiser Chief after a long spell in the Celebrity Fat Club. They play two dates in the region this month.

SOMETHING virulent and tasteless is spreading through the world of rock as we know it, and it goes by the name of emo.

Everywhere you look, teenage emo bands are being spawned across the nation, all sporting badly-dyed black hair, cute rucksacks, noisy guitars and misanthropic lyrics concerning why their parents didn't buy them a Nintendo when they were young.

Its ringleaders are American angst icons like Dashboard Confessional and Fall Out Boy, and its mission statement is to whinge us all to death like Morrissey on a bad hair day.

With Asian bird flu-like proportions, this emo disease has even landed on our own British soil, in Manchester - but fear not! British Rock Quality Control has only allowed the finest Emo exponents to become available to the public, and leading the British emo charge are Manchester's very own 52 Teenagers.

Only problem is, they're not actually sure themselves if they are an 'emo' band.

"I do think we definitely possess elements of emo," sighs Neil, 52 Teenagers' frontman and a dead-ringer for Ricky Kaiser Chief after a long spell in the Celebrity Fat Club.

Distinction

"But we don't even own that many emo records. Our drummer Gavin didn't even know what emo was until we told him recently! The main distinction with us is that proper American emo bands are just miserable, self-pitying teenagers with nothing to say.

"The kind of music we write is much more honest and more tuneful. I could never write a song moaning about 'my bitch evil ex-girlfriend'.

"We've got more in common with someone like Muse or Radiohead than Fall Out Boy. So I guess you could call us a British emo band."

Certainly, 52 Teenagers are a band who shun the wailing histrionics of their US emo counterparts, instead creating their own distinctive, passionate and earnest brand of patriotic British emo music.

You wouldn't find many emo bands citing the influence of Oasis, Manic Street Preachers and Coldplay. And you DEFINITELY wouldn't hear many American emo bands admitting that the first gig they ever attended was a (cover your ears!) Kula Shaker concert. Gasp!

Ashamed

Drummer Gavin laughs: "I'm not ashamed to admit that I used to like Kula Shaker as a band, we're not pretentious enough to hide our influences. We're all disciples of Britpop in the mid-nineties. If it wasn't for the likes of Oasis, I wouldn't even be here now."

Neil slips into nostalgic reverie: "My first gig was Oasis at Maine Road in '96. And hearing them play Acquiesce is the very reason I decided to become a songwriter in the first place. Now that's not a very emo thing to say, is it?"

Not at all, but what 52 Teenagers undoubtedly share with their US rock colleagues is a collective sense of inner rage, small town frustration, and bold, unfettered ambition. All four members - Neil, Gavin, bassist Dev and guitarist Mark - met at Manchester City College five years ago, and ever since graduating, it's been a torrid existence of dead end jobs, penury, broken relationships, and various (misguided) attempts to start a band.

By Neil's own admission, the earliest incarnation of 52 Teenagers, "weren't much cop. Our music was dead naive and simple ... and we looked like a Busted tribute band! Absolutely awful. Although we had interest from people, I'm glad we didn't get signed. We would have released one EP, then split, and ended up working in an insurance office by now."

New material

After a few years writing new material and convincing venue promoters that the band featured only FOUR members (Neil: "People would ask us: 'Why are there only four members of the band? Where are the other 48 teenagers then?'"), 52 Teenagers re-emerged last year, crash bang in the middle of the emo revolution, and unlikely icons of the British Emo fight back.

With an acclaimed debut EP, Aphex, 52 Teenagers were celebrating the emo genre with songs that could combine aggression with finesse, and darkened introspection with tender poetry. And after a recent sold-out gig at Academy 3, it seems they're finally breaking down the innate prejudices towards Emo music in this here city.

Neil grins: "When we played the Academy 3, that was mad. It was totally sold out, 250 people there to see us. And the most amazing thing was the variety of the crowd. It wasn't just teenage rock kids. There was a real mix, young and old. People we didn't expect. There was this group of black kids at the front, going crazy for the guitar playing. Amazing."

With the rather snobbish indie-centric Manchester music scene finally succumbing to 52 Teenagers' charms, one question has to be asked. Are they looking forward to being British Emo pin-ups then?

Neil laughs: "Yeah, bring it on! I'm sure I could handle it. I've spent the past year being told by people, 'Oi, you look like that fat singer from the Kaiser Chiefs!' Which isn't very flattering. I'm looking forward to being known as that thin lead singer from 52 Teenagers from now on. Ha ha!"

52 Teenagers play The Castle in Oldham on Thursday, February 23, and The Late Room on the 26th. To listen to tracks, visit www.myspace.com/52teenagers.